Off the back of a thriving annual event in Denver, Questex’s StreamTV Show is expanding to Lisbon for its first international edition, convening executives from across the content, technology, and advertising sectors to position StreamTV Europe as the region’s first digital-first conference and market, taking place April 13 to 15. Alejandro Piñero, director of the event at Questex, tells ScreenMDM why StreamTV Europe is your next must-attend summit for understanding where the streaming business is now and where it’s headed.
“We’ve been running StreamTV in Denver for a few years now, and that event has grown exponentially,” Piñero tells me in the latest episode of ScreenMDM Talks, which you can watch on YouTube below or on Spotify. “Talking to a lot of folks attending and also our advisory board, it became apparent that the opportunity was there for us to build a similar platform focused on the European market. We’ve been working on this for nearly two years. We can’t just copy what we’ve managed to do in Denver, but the ethos is very much the same. We’re a streaming-first market. We want to bring together all the leaders from the content, tech, and advertising pillars that make streaming possible. We see that in Europe, there’s a great opportunity. As with other regions, there’s a shift happening, bringing in more advertising tiers in terms of subscription; there’s great interest in localized European content and bringing in great content from elsewhere. And Europe poses its own challenges. It’s a fragmented market, and it’s highly regulated. There are different interests, but there are commonalities in terms of how people consume content and what they want to see. So we just saw the opportunity to bring that streaming industry together. And no one’s complaining about having to get to Lisbon in April!”
The agenda has been built around both the big-picture trends within Europe as well as local market dynamics, with 30-plus countries represented in terms of delegates. Key themes being explored include working with YouTube, driving CTV opportunities, and FAST expansion.
The organizers had “modest” expectations for the inaugural event; the response has been well beyond what Questex had hoped for, he says.
“We’re very much on track to hit over a 1,000 attendees; 40-plus exhibitors, 100-plus partners and sponsors. We have 185 speakers coming to the show, which is quite intense. The people who are coming to the show are very excited and ready to help drive forward the streaming industry. Just like people think of, you know, going to Cannes Lions for the advertising ecosystem and going to MIPCOM to buy content, we think Lisbon is really going to become the home of streaming. And that for us is our vision and our roadmap. We want to see folks telling us this is a must-attend event for digital-first. That’s where the industry is headed anyway. We’re hoping that this becomes a must-attend show for media and entertainment in Europe in the years to come.”
Questex has enlisted Evan Shapiro to help shape the conference and keynote agenda, alongside enlisting the expertise of Alan Wolk and Marion Ranchet, analysts from Omdia, and more. Meanwhile, StreamTV Europe will also feature the StreamTV Connect hosted buyers program. “They come to the show, and they agree to a number of meetings with our partners and sponsors. And these are folks across tech, content, and advertising with verified budget and intent to partner and to purchase. They have 15-minute meetings with our partners over two blocks. And then for the rest of the time, they’re at the show. So this is also to the benefit of the folks who are at the event more broadly. We’re in the business of forming connections. And this is just a matter of not leaving it up to chance. We’re really being proactive in bringing these folks to the show.”
Networking is a key focus with a range of experiential events, including a Bedrock-sponsored opening party at the Lisbon Botanical Garden.
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